If You Could See Me Now (Season 6)
by AgentRez
Summary: My ideas for 6x03 & beyond. Loyalties are questioned on all sides as the investigation into the election night tragedy continues. Startling accusations and buried memories cause Olivia to question her choices. Fitz and Olivia are pushed closer to reconciliation by an unexpected source. Inspired by one line in 6x03 promo. Canon-compliant through 6x02. Olitz endgame.
1. Chapter 1

_I apologize for constantly starting new Scandal stories without finishing the old ones. Such is the hazard of attempting to write canon-compliant fanfic in the middle of the season, when new episodes keep screwing up my plans for stories. This is my idea for how I would like 6x03 to go. In the promo, there is a scene where Cyrus accuses Olivia of setting him up to take the fall for Vargas' murder. This story starts right after that scene. Olitz endgame, also a story of self-revelation for Olivia. Reviews are greatly appreciated. Hopefully I will finish this before tomorrow night's episode. I don't own the characters, if I did 5x09 and the rest of season 5 would have gone a lot differently.  
_

* * *

"I know you're not going to want to hear this, but I believe him," Abby says to the president as they walk away from the meeting with Cyrus.

Fitz looks at Abby like she's nuts. "You believe that Olivia fabricated evidence to frame him for Vargas' murder?" he asks incredulously.

"Okay, maybe believe him is too strong. My point is, I don't think we can rule out the possibility that you're being played."

"That's ridiculous," Fitz scoffs.

"Is it?" Abby challenges. "Believe me, I wish it were. I don't want to believe she would stoop that low any more than you do but she's done a lot of things neither of us thought she was capable of."

"Not like this."

"Maybe not. But you know as well as I do that she's desperate to win this. So desperate that she had me hire Marcus Walker as press secretary because he was starting to get involved with Mellie and Olivia didn't think the optics would be good."

Fitz looks stunned, and pained, by this revelation.

"Fine, get her in here."

"Olivia? Why?"

"So I can ask her if there's any truth to what Cyrus is saying."

"Shouldn't we investigate first?"

"No. Just get her in here. I want to hear it from her that she didn't do this."

"You know if she did do it, this is exactly what she's counting on, right? You believing her."

"Just get her in here," Fitz snaps.

 **ONE HOUR LATER**  
Olivia is escorted into the Oval Office.

"What's going on?" she asks. "Abby said you wanted to talk to me about the investigation?"

"Yeah. Have a seat."

Olivia sits down. Fitz comes and sits across from her.

"Abby and I spoke to Cyrus. He insists that he's innocent, and that he's being set up."

"Well, of course he does. Is that what you called me here to tell me?" Olivia asks, confused. She becomes more perplexed as she sees the look on his face. "Wait, you think..." she asks incredulously.

"I have to ask," he says gently.

"Seriously? You have to ask if I fabricated evidence against Cyrus because I'm that desperate to get Mellie into the White House?" She shakes her head with disbelief.

"It's no secret that you're hungry to get back into the Oval," Fitz says dryly. "And it wouldn't be the first time you tried to fix an election."

Olivia scoffs incredulously. "You think that's why I went along with Defiance? So I could get a job in the White House?"

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to. Since you have to ask, no, I didn't fabricate evidence to frame an innocent man for murder," she snaps, looking him square in the eye. "If you don't believe me do what you have to do." Beneath her anger it Fitz can see how hurt she is.

"Liv, stop. I believe you. I just needed to ask...you know I needed to ask," Fitz says.

"Fine. You asked. I answered. May I go now?" she asks, trying desperately not to let him see her emotions. He nods listlessly, feeling bad for even asking. He chides himself, remembering Abby's warning that Olivia is counting on that. But he can't believe she would look him in the eye and lie to him. She has never done that, not even when he practically begged her to.

* * *

 _Coming up in the next installment:_

 _OLIVIA: I think you should accept Cyrus' offer._

 _..._

 _HUCK: You're the only one who's pretending, Abby. You're pretending you're here because you're worried about her._  
 _ABBY: I am worried about her! You should be too._

 _..._

 _MELLIE: You did this to her, Fitz! You broke her!_

 _..._

 _HUCK: Whenever Teddy was around it made her anxious, sometimes to the point of panic, but it took us a while to figure out what was making her anxious because we didn't know what you knew. She needed you, and you weren't there._

 _..._

 _FITZ: Why didn't you tell me?_  
 _OLIVIA: What difference does it make at this point?_

 _..._

 _MELLIE: Wait! She didn't...Olivia didn't tell you the whole story._


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first installment. In response to one of the comments I got on chapter 1, I don't think Fitz is solely responsible for the way Olivia has changed or for the breakup, but the argument in the last scene of this installment reflects Mellie's perspective. I think both Fitz and Liv bear a lot of responsibility for things going wrong, although the circumstances and the people around them (Mellie, Cyrus, Liz North, etc) are as much to blame as anything. I think if they are ever to get back together and make it work, both of them need to be called out for and accept responsibility for their mistakes. That is what I am aiming to do with this fanfic. I am not aiming to pin the blame one way or the other, but to explain their actions in a way that I feel the writers failed to do fully last season. Warning: this chapter contains a slightly smutty flashback scene. I don't think it is explicit enough to require an M rating but be advised._

* * *

 **OLIVIA'S APARTMENT (November 14, 2016 at 12:30 AM)**  
Olivia comes in, pours herself some wine, sits on the couch and calls Mellie, struggling not to cry.

"Mellie, it's me," she says quietly. "I've been thinking, and I think you should accept Cyrus' offer," she says resignedly.

"I've been thinking the same thing," Mellie admits. "That way I'll be in line to become president if they find enough evidence to impeach him."

"Yeah. In the meantime, you won't be as high profile. If you want to give things with Marcus another go, you'll have time before it becomes a public spectacle. And if it does go public, we'll handle it. That's what I should have said in the first place instead of interfering."

"It's alright, Liv. I understand why you did it. You know me well enough to know that if I had to choose between love and power, I'd choose power. Besides, I guess I don't really have the right to be mad. I tried the same thing to get rid of you eight years ago."

"Wait, are you talking about the offer I got from the White House counsel's office?" Olivia asks, caught off guard by Mellie's revelation.

 ** _FLASHBACK: 8 YEARS EARLIER_**

 _Olivia glances around to make sure the hallway is clear before using the key card Fitz snuck into her hands earlier._

 _As soon as she opens the door, he grabs her and pulls her in, his hands and lips roaming all over her._

 _"Mmm…someone's impatient tonight!" she remarks as he pushes her down onto the bed and starts unbuckling her jeans._

 _"I'm anxious to show you what you'll be missing if you take that job in the White House counsel's office."_

 _"Fitz…" she chides._

 _"Look, Livvie, it's a great opportunity for you. I can't ask you to turn it down. But that's not going to stop me from spending the next few hours showing you how much I want you to stay, or what you'll be giving up if you go," he says, flashing her a wicked grin._

 _Olivia giggles, then pulls back. "Fitz, stop. I've been thinking about this. I applied for the job over a year ago, and I never heard back. So why now?"_

 _"Because you're brilliant, and amazing, and somebody's noticed what a miracle worker you've been on this campaign?"_

 _"That's what I'd like to believe. But I have a nagging suspicion that someone pulled some strings because they know about us," she says._

 _"Why? Did someone say something to you?" Fitz asks, slightly alarmed._

 _"No. It's just my gut…we haven't been discreet enough."_

 _"We've been very discreet!" Fitz insists. "But tonight, I've got a corner suite, Mellie's back in Santa Barbara, Cyrus is too busy trying to hide whatever he's got going on with one of the reporters covering the campaign because he thinks I don't know he's gay, and the rest of the staff is staying two floors down," he says with a grin. "So I don't plan on being discreet at all. In fact, I plan on being the opposite of discreet," he says teasingly as he pulls her campaign t-shirt up over her head and starts trailing kisses down her neck, then her chest, then lower._

 _"Fitz…Fitz!" Olivia cries in faint protest, knowing she is going to lose this battle as she always does._

 _…_

 **PRESENT DAY  
**

"That was before the convention! You knew during the campaign?" Olivia asks Mellie, surprised.

"I wasn't sure, but I suspected it. I saw the way you looked at each other."

Olivia smiles sadly.

…

 _ **8 YEARS EARLIER**_

 _Five hours after the last flashback, Olivia wakes up at 5:30 am and smiles as she looks at Fitz, who is still sleeping peacefully next to her. Wanting him to get some sorely needed rest, she sneaks out of bed and starts retrieving her scattered clothes from the floor._

 _"Where do you think you're going?" Fitz complains. Olivia smiles._

 _"I was trying to let you get more sleep," she explains. "We don't need to be up for another hour, and I have to get back to my room before anyone else wakes up. But since you're awake, I might as well tell you that I made a decision."_

 _"Oh yeah?"_

 _"I'm not going to take the job at counsel's office," she tells him._

 _"You're not?" he asks, trying in vain to contain how relieved he is._

 _"I made a commitment to this campaign, to getting you elected," she says nonchalantly._

 _"Really? You're staying because you made a commitment?" Fitz questions, pulling her back onto the bed. "It has nothing to do with the fact that I had you quivering and moaning and begging for hours last night?"_

 _Olivia blushes furiously._

 _"I'm staying because my work is not yet done here," she says with a smile. "But if I'm going to stay, we need to set some ground rules to make sure nobody finds out about us," she says sternly as she perches herself up on his bare chest._

 _"Ground rules?"_

 _"New rule number one: no staring in public. Rule number two: no sitting next to me on the bus unless we're actually going over something related to the campaign and there are other people around. Rule number three: no more pulling me into closets backstage during campaign stops. Rule number four: no passing X-rated notes disguised as edits to your stump speech."_

 _"Oh come on! I was discreet about that."_

 _"I mean it! I am trying to get you elected. I can't do that if…"_

 _"If I get you all hot and bothered during the day thinking about all the things I'm going to do to you at night?" he says suggestively as he starts nibbling on her neck while his hands start roaming her still naked body._

 _"Fitz, stop! I'm serious. We have to be careful, especially now that we brought a bunch of Langston's people on staff. You don't think they'd jump at the chance to have you replaced as the nominee if they found out about us?"_

 _"Alright, fine. But if you expect me not to stare at you in public you cannot wear those shorts you were wearing the other day in Orlando. Between the way your legs looked in those shorts and the way the white campaign shirt was sticking to your skin because of the heat, it's a miracle I was able to get through my stump speech."_

 _"Fine. Noted," Olivia agrees with mock annoyance._

 _..._

 **PRESENT DAY**

"But it didn't work. You didn't take the bait," Mellie says over the phone. "So you were right about Marcus, and where his priorities lie."

"I'm not sure if I was right," Liv admits resignedly.

"Liv, are you okay? You sound like you've been crying." Mellie asks.

"No, I...I'm fine," Olivia insists. "I'll set up a meeting for you with Cyrus tomorrow to discuss the offer." She hangs up quickly, leaving Mellie confused and a little concerned.

 **OPA**  
Huck shows Abby how he found the video of Cyrus arguing with Vargas, hoping to satisfy her that it's authentic.

"Here are the logs for the file...you can see it hasn't been written to since Thursday night, when we first got it from the FBI. I'm the only one who has touched this copy since we got it...Quinn and Charlie are looking at other parts of the video on other computers since there's over 3,000 hours of footage, but I'm the only one who knows the password for this computer. I'll give you the entire activity log for the computer if you don't believe me."

"No, it's okay. Thanks, Huck."

"Anytime," Huck says, barely masking his irritation.

"What? Don't look at me like that."

"Look at you like what?"

"Like I'm being disloyal. Like I'm a bad person for doing my job. Look, I don't want to believe Liv is up to dirty tricks any more than you do, but unlike you guys I don't have the luxury of pretending that she hasn't changed."

Huck shakes his head. "You're the only one who's pretending, Abby. You're pretending you're here because you're worried about her."

"I am worried about her. You should be too!"

"If you were worried about her you would have been there when she asked."

"When? You mean over the summer, when I couldn't leave my job in the middle of a national security crisis because she wanted an extra body to help fix some stupid 2-day news story about Teddy being used as a prop that Liv was more than capable of handling herself?"

"You don't understand. Liv didn't need an extra body...she needed you. You know as well as I do that Liv never would have let a reporter get near Teddy unless something was throwing her off her game. Whenever Teddy was around it made her anxious, sometimes to the point of panic, but it took us a while to figure out what was making her anxious because we didn't know what you knew. When we finally pushed her on it she wouldn't tell us what was wrong, but she said 'get Abby, she can help'."

"You didn't tell me that she was having anxiety attacks! Quinn didn't tell me any of that when she called. She just said Liv wanted my help dealing with the fallout. I guess I didn't put two and two together," Abby admits guiltily.

"Whether you put two and two together or not, the point is we told you she needed your help. And there was a time that would have been enough for you. I know you have an important job now and I'm happy for you. But you don't get to come in here and pretend like you're still one of Liv's gladiators, because you're not."

Abby scoffs and turns to go, then whirls back around. "She's hurting herself. You know that, right? Win or lose, at some point it's all going to come crashing down when she realizes that what she thinks she's fighting for isn't really what she wants. So if I'm not allowed to worry about her, I sure as hell hope you guys are."

 **OVAL OFFICE - NEXT DAY (November 15, 2016 at 11 AM)**  
Fitz walks into his office and is surprised to find his ex-wife waiting for him.

"Mellie. To what do I owe the pleas..." he stops when he sees the death glare on her face.

"Did you accuse Olivia of planting evidence against Cyrus?" Mellie asks angrily.

Fitz looks caught off guard. "I didn't accuse her of anything," he says flatly. "She looked me in the eye and promised me that she wasn't setting Cyrus up and I told her I believed her. I don't know why she sent you here to interrogate me about it."

"She didn't send me. I came on my own, after spending the last several hours trying to figure out why she was so upset, and then finding out it's because you let Cyrus manipulate you into believing his ridiculous conspiracy theory about her."

"I didn't let Cyrus manipulate me into anything," Fitz insists, looking surprised when Mellie tells him how upset Olivia was. "I didn't want to believe him, but we both know Olivia's desperate to win this...oddly, more desperate than you seem to be. I don't want to believe she would fabricate evidence to frame Cyrus, but I needed to be sure. She's changed, Mellie...I can see it, Abby can see it, and if you weren't so blinded by your own ambition, you'd see it too."

"And whose fault is that?" Mellie snaps.

"Excuse me?"

"You did this to her, Fitz! You broke her!"

Fitz shakes his head angrily. This is a conversation he never thought he'd have with his ex-wife.

"I broke her? She left me, not the other way around!"

"Oh please. You didn't fight for her! You spent years telling me she was the love of your life, and then you let her go without a fight. You promised her you were going to leave me for _years_ , and yet you came crawling back time after time to save your political career until she forced your hand by going public. Then you tried to push her into a shotgun wedding on the same day we signed the divorce papers to save your presidency yet again, and you punished her for not wanting to go along with it."

"Damn it Mellie! Do you even know what she did to avoid that 'shotgun wedding'? She fabricated release papers to get her father, the man who KILLED OUR SON, out of prison in exchange for his help blackmailing the Senate committee."

Mellie looks shocked, realizing for the first time that Olivia never told Fitz about her own role in releasing Rowan.

"She didn't tell..."

"She didn't tell you that part, did she?" Fitz snaps angrily, misinterpreting what Mellie was trying to say. Mellie sees an opportunity to protect herself and seizes on it.

"No...I guess she didn't," Mellie stammers.

"Are we done?" Fitz asks. Mellie nods and turns to go. She hesitates for a moment in the doorway, agonizing as her conscience nags at her, something she never thought would happen when it came to Olivia. After a minute, she turns around.

"Wait!" she calls out.

The president looks up from the papers he had started reading.

Mellie hesitates for another moment as Fitz stares at her. "She didn't...I don't think Olivia told you the whole story," she admits.


	3. Chapter 3

_Thanks for all the reviews for the first two chapters. This is canon through 6x02, and may incorporate some storylines from later episodes. I envision some of this happening at the same time as what we saw in 6x03, but that may change depending on what happens in future episodes. I hope this chapter better explains why things changed so much between Fitz and Liv between 508 and 509 and why she felt so trapped, because I don't think the show adequately did that. In case it is not clear from the dialog, my interpretation of 5x06 upon rewatch is that Olivia came to her senses and decided to go ahead with the wedding after asking Mellie to release her father. It's not clear whether she realized releasing her father was a bad idea or just decided to get married because she didn't think her father was an option after Mellie turned her down, but I lean toward the former interpretation because if she were determined to release her father to avoid marrying Fitz, she could have found some other way besides getting Mellie to forge Fitz's signature. Because the story jumps around in time, like the real show, I added dates and times to each of the scenes, which will make the next chapter less confusing. I am assuming that about a week has passed since the election/assassination at this point.  
_

-  
 **FLASHBACK - ONE YEAR EARLIER (November 20, 2015)**  
 _This takes the morning after the scene at the end of 5x08 when Fitz tells Olivia she now lives in the White House._

Olivia wakes up and looks around. She has stayed over here many times before but it feels different now that Fitz told her it's her home. She looks over at Fitz, watching him sleep for a minute and trying to figure out what to think. On the one hand, she is grateful that he is there, sleeping next to her, something she thought would never happen after he learned about her releasing her father. On the other hand, something feels off to her. The way he looked at her when he told her he had moved her in was different. The way he kissed her was different. Everything felt different. Maybe it is all in her head, a consequence of the guilt she feels. At least, that is what she hopes.

A situation had come up that required him to be in the situation room until late the night before, and she had tried to wait up but eventually fell asleep, drained after the day's events. So they hadn't had any more opportunity to talk since then.

Fitz wakes up and sees her looking around. "Hey...you okay?" he asks gently. She nods, not sure what to say. "Look, Fitz, I want you to know," she begins.

"Liv, stop. If this is about your father, I don't want to talk about it. I want to move on, okay?" he urges.

"Okay," she says hesitantly. She feels like there is more that needs to be said but is afraid to push it. It is an unfamiliar feeling, feeling afraid to speak her mind with him, and suddenly she is not sure what to do.

"Do you want to not talk?" she suggests, hoping that will diffuse the tension a little. She pulls down one of her nightgown straps and leans in to start kissing him, but he brushes her off and gets out of bed.

"I can't. I have to get into the Oval early. I've got a meeting with the Congressional leadership about the spending bill."

"Don't let them dictate the agenda," she advises. "Make sure you show them that you're back in charge now that..."

"Liv, I've got it," he cuts her off. "I know how to do my job." He gives her a quick kiss on the head and then goes to get in the shower, never fully looking her in the eye.

Olivia buries her head in her hands, feeling a pit in her stomach as she realizes how much his attitude has changed toward her.

-  
 **OVAL OFFICE - PRESENT DAY (November 15, 2016 at 11 am)  
**

"So let me make sure I understand this," Fitz says testily to his ex-wife. "Olivia came to you the night before she was supposed to testify before the Senate committee, and asked you to forge my signature on her father's release papers."

"Yes."

"But you didn't agree to it then?"

"No. I told her to go to hell."

"Then you came to sign the divorce papers, and you knew that she had decided to get married so she wouldn't have to testify, but decided to release her father anyway so you could gain leverage over her."

"And because I was angry, and humiliated, and because having all that information on fellow senators would make me powerful. Look, I'm not proud of it, but you can't deny that it took care of the problem way better than your shotgun wedding idea would have. If you had gone ahead with it, the Committee would have still been out for blood. They would have subpoenaed White House aides, Secret Service, you name it. And I did it for our children, especially Karen. The affair and the divorce were hard enough on her...did you even think about how marrying your mistress the same day would have affected her?"

"Damn it, Mellie, don't drag Karen into this. Did you know that the man you were releasing in exchange for all this power was the man who killed our son?"

"Fitz, I..."

"DID YOU KNOW that he was the man who killed our son?" Fitz demands more forcefully.

"Yes," Mellie admits reluctantly.

"Get out!" Fitz yells angrily.

Mellie nods and quickly heads toward the door. Then she turns around. "Look, I'm a power-hungry bitch. I know that. But Olivia...she loved you in a way I never could. I see that now. And she won't admit it, especially not to me, but I'm pretty sure she still does."

Mellie turns to go and is stunned to see Marcus standing in the doorway.

"I'm sorry," he says anxiously. "I just came to remind the president that it's time to do that interview with the New Yorker."

He and Mellie stare at each other for a moment as she wonders how much he heard. She leaves the room hastily and Marcus walks in. "Sir, Abby wanted me to remind you to keep the focus on your accomplishments and don't let them bog you down with questions about your personal life."

"Yes, I'm aware," Fitz snaps. "Focus on my legacy, that's what's important." He angrily sips his scotch before following Marcus to the interview.

-  
 **OLIVIA'S APARTMENT - LATER THAT NIGHT (November 15, 2016 at 11 PM)**  
Olivia reluctantly answers her phone.

"Hello?" she answers.

"Liv, it's me," the president says on the other end.

Olivia scoffs angrily, but something prevents her from hanging up.

"Look, I just wanted to apologize for earlier. For what it's worth, I never really thought you would set Cyrus up to take the fall."

"Help me understand this," she says angrily. "First you call me in to interrogate me, then you tell me you believe me, then you send Abby to my office to investigate and now you're calling to apologize?" she asks.

"I didn't send Abby to your office. I didn't know she went there," Fitz insists. "I told her that I believed you and to drop it...that should have been the end of it and I'm sorry."

"It's fine. You were doing your job," Olivia says flatly. "I shouldn't have taken it personally."

"Liv, can I ask you something?" he asks. He told himself he wasn't going to bring it up but can't help himself.

"That depends," Olivia says cautiously.

"Why didn't you tell me that you changed your mind about having your father released and decided you were going to go ahead with the wedding and then Mellie released him anyway to try to gain leverage over you?"

"What? Why are you asking about this now?"

"Because Mellie told me the whole story. I just don't understand why you didn't."

"I didn't tell you because you didn't want to hear it!" she says, her defenses going back up. "You said you just wanted to move on. You wanted to pretend that it didn't change everything between us."

"How? How did it change everything between us?"

"It changed the way you looked at me, the way you saw me! It wasn't just that you stopped trusting me and didn't want me in the Oval and sent me away from the Big Dogs table. You stopped...you stopped looking at me the same way, talking to me the same way, wanting me the same way. You stopped smiling whenever I came into the room."

"I didn't stop smiling..."

"Yes, you did. And I don't blame you for that. I understand that you were angry, and hurt, and you were trying so hard to forgive me, but it changed everything and nothing between us felt right after that."

"That's why you felt suffocated?" Fitz acknowledges, realization sinking in.

Olivia nods, forgetting that he can't see her. "I knew what I was getting into when I outed us to the world. I was prepared to make sacrifices. I was prepared to take on the ceremonial duties and do whatever we needed to do to get the world to accept us. But after you moved me into the White House it felt like that was _all_ I was to you. I felt like I had become just like Mellie in your eyes, or worse, as you yourself said."

"Oh, come on. We both said some things that night because we were angry."

"I know that. I know that I hurt you, and I am sorry. But you can't just call me after all this time and ask these questions and force me to rehash all of this...you can't. I can't."

"You're right. I'm sorry. I just...I did an interview with the New Yorker today, one of those legacy building interviews that you do at the end of your presidency, and it forced me to look back on the last 8 years. And as hard as I try, I can't look back and reflect on my presidency without thinking about you, and all of the things I wish I could change if I had it to do over again."

"You shouldn't blame yourself," she insists, regaining her composure. "I told you, we never had a chance under the circumstances. And you shouldn't talk about me in those interviews more than you have to to get them off the topic. If you won't say you regret the affair, say you regret hurting your family and causing turmoil for the country and move on. Talk about the Brandon Bill, gun control, immigration, the Kinyazi raid, putting four justices on the Supreme Court. That should be your legacy. Don't let them make me your legacy."

He chuckles, amused at how she is still giving him spot-on advice.

"So when they ask me if I there's anything I wish I could have accomplished, I guess I shouldn't say the fact that we never actually got to join the mile high club on Air Force One?" he jokes, hoping to lighten the mood a bit.

Olivia is caught off-guard but can't help giggling. "Okaaay...I'm hanging up now."

"Good night," he says with a smile, happy that his comment didn't infuriate her.

She puts down the phone and shakes her head, half amused and half nostalgic, thinking back to some of their late night phone calls in season 2.

 **OPA (November 16, 2016 at 12:30 am)  
**

"Quinn, you need to look at this," Huck says, handing her a piece of paper.

"What is it?"

"It's a transcript of the president's interview with the New Yorker. Abby said it's going to be published this Saturday. She gave us a copy after I called her out for not having Liv's back and said we should prepare to do damage control."

Quinn looks at it and frowns as she reads it aloud.

 ** _"I regret getting involved with Olivia Pope. She's not a good person, not in the way you think. She's not the person I thought she was. I regret the pain it caused my family and the fact that the resulting media circus distracted us from governing."_**

"This doesn't make sense," Quinn says. "A while ago, Abby told me that after Liv left the White House, the president made it clear that anyone who said or leaked anything negative about her to the press would be fired. And that was when they weren't even speaking. Now they're getting along, as far as I can tell. So why would he throw her under the bus now?"

"I don't know. But we've got to tell Liv, and see how she wants to handle it."

"What if we don't tell her?" Quinn suggests.

"We have to tell her," Huck says. "We have to warn her."

"What if we can make it go away?"

"How?"

"Find some dirt on the reporter or the editors that we can use to kill the story. And make it clear to Abby that if the article gets published we're going to hit back."

"That's Liv's call, not ours."

"This is going to hurt her," Quinn worries. "She'll insist she doesn't care but she does."

"I know. But better she find out now than when it gets published."

 **OLIVIA'S APARTMENT (November 16, 2016 at 12:45 AM)**  
Olivia pours herself another glass of wine, then hesitantly reaches into her nightstand. She takes out the "sweet baby" ring and allows herself to look at it and twirl it for just a moment before putting it away.

She feels a brief moment of peace, which is interrupted when her cell phone rings. "Quinn, what's going on?" she asks.

"You need to come back to the office."

"Why? Did you find anything else on the video?"

"No. But we may need to put that on hold. Abby slipped us a transcript of the president's New Yorker interview, and we're going to need to do damage control," Quinn says anxiously.

* * *

 _If you are confused about why Fitz would throw Olivia under the bus while being so nice to her on the phone, you are supposed to be. Here's a clue: remember that one of the lines in the interview is something Fitz said to Jake in 2x15, verbatim. Coincidence? Stay tuned to find out.  
_


	4. Chapter 4

_Due to my desire to procrastinate writing a motion, you get two chapters in one day. Reviews are really appreciated._

 **OPA (November 16, 2016 at 1 AM)**  
"This doesn't make any sense," Olivia says, pacing back and forth as she struggles to contain her emotions. "It would have made sense for him to say this a year ago, when I left, but why now?"

"Liv, I said the same thing, but right now, we can't focus on the why. We have to focus on how we are going to respond, because you will not get back into the Oval if you become a political liability for Mellie."

"I know that!" Liv snaps.

"Do you want to prepare to fire back? Do you want to fire pre-emptively? Do you want to try to prevent the article from coming out by digging up dirt? How do you want to handle this?"

"I don't know...I'm thinking...prepare to strike back but hold your fire. See if you can hack into the New Yorker website and get the audio of the interview. And see what you can dig up on Abby."

"Why are we digging up dirt on Abby? She's the one who gave you a heads up on this."

"Because the president's not behind this, she is. She's the one telling him I can't be trusted."

"Okay, Liv, are you sure you're not just believing what you want to believe?"

"Just do what I said!" she snaps.

Quinn and Huck go back to the conference room, and Liv closes the door to her office. She stands against the wall for a minute, struggling not to cry. Then she whips out her phone and calls Abby.

"Nice work. You finally succeeded at getting him to throw me under the bus. How'd you do it?" she snarls.

"I didn't do anything," Abby says smugly. "I was actually surprised. But I guess he's tired of your games. He's been out with Angela Webster several times now, and I guess that's helped free him from this spell you had him under and enabled him to see you for who you really are, who you've become."

"And who have I become, Abby?"

"A manipulative bitch who's trying to claw back into power and doesn't care who she hurts along the way."

Olivia looks shell-shocked, but quickly fires back. "Well, you tell him that if this interview gets published, don't count on me falling on my sword to protect his legacy. That's what the person he thought I was would have done. But apparently I'm not that person."

"You're not, Liv, not anymore," Abby insists, her voice showing less anger and more sadness. "You're lost, and you don't see it. You are not the same person who picked me up when Charles broke my nose and fractured my ribs. You're so desperate to get back into the Oval that you don't care about justice or the truth, or even whether one of your oldest friends might actually be innocent. I saw you on election night. You were scheming about how to get the electors to vote for Mellie within 5 minutes of Frankie Vargas being shot. I don't know when you took off your white hat exactly, but it's gone. The Olivia I knew is gone. And the irony is, if you were still the person you used to be, if you still trusted your gut instead of ignoring it when it suits your ambitions, you probably would have won the election and wouldn't be in this position."

"I am so sick of you getting on your high horse and judging me like I'm the only one who's changed."

"I don't deny it. I've changed too. I fell on my sword out of blind loyalty to you one too many times, and I'm done. I'm not doing it anymore. So go ahead and hit back. I don't know what you'll hit back with, because all of his skeletons involve doing favors for you. But trust me, this interview is only the beginning if you don't drop this witchhunt. Otherwise, the White House communications staff won't hesitate to go after you with everything they've got, because what you're doing is dangerous for the country."

"And what exactly have they 'got'?" Olivia demands. "If you're talking about the abortion, I told you, I'm not ashamed."

"Oh, that's the tip of the iceberg. How do you think people will react if they knew you slept with your candidate's VP choice the night before his wedding? That's enough to prove that you really are just a trashy homewrecker who seduces powerful men, and good luck selling a love story twice. Americans may fall for that crap once, but I don't think you'll be able to do it this time. Hey, it's understandable. Fitz only had a year left in office when you left him. Jake's an up and coming politician, so it makes sense you'd want to switch horses. You never loved Fitz. You were always in it for the power. Whether or not that's true, you can bet that's how we'll portray it if you hit back, and destroy what's left of your reputation. You might succeed at getting Mellie in the Oval, but you'll be so toxic that she'll drop you like a hot potato. And I doubt you'll have too many other clients knocking on the door, especially since you lost the election and in fact have never actually won a presidential election on the merits. Give up this crusade, and I'll see what I can do to kill the New Yorker piece. You have 12 hours to decide," Abby says before hanging up.

Olivia just stands there, shell-shocked, unable to contain her tears anymore.

 **OPA (November 16, 2016 at 1:15 AM)**

"I'm in!" Quinn says proudly as she hacks away. "Now I just have to find the audio file of the interview."

 **OPA (November 16, 2016 at 1:20 AM)**

Olivia tries to pull herself together when Huck comes into her office.

"We got the audio of the interview," he says gently. "It matches the transcript. Do you want to hear it for yourself?" he asks gently.

"No," she says, wiping away tears as she leads Huck back to the conference room. "You guys can go home. You should all go home. You've been working around the clock for days."

"Go home? We can't go home," Quinn says. "We need to handle this."

"No, we don't," Olivia says, her spirits thoroughly deflated. "It's my problem. I'll handle it. Please, go home. I'd like to be alone right now."

Quinn and Charlie eventually agree. Huck goes with them but then turns around and walks back into Olivia's office, where she is sitting on the floor crying, much like Huck did in 7:52.

"I said go home," she says, not looking up.

"I'm not just going to leave you here like this," Huck insists. "When I was crouched in this corner you didn't leave me, so I'm not going to leave you."

Olivia nods and continues crying with her head buried in her hands, then eventually looks up at Huck. "When did I become such a monster?" she asks. "Was it when I agreed to Defiance? Was it when I let my father out of jail? Was it when I walked away from Fitz? Was it when I killed Andrew? Was it when I forced Jake onto the stage at the convention? Or have I always been a monster and just didn't know it?"

"You're not a monster," Huck insists. "I'm a monster. I enjoy killing. You're not a monster."

"Abby's right. Within 5 minutes of Vargas being shot, I was thinking about whether there was an opportunity for Mellie."

"What were you thinking about for the first 4 minutes?" Huck asks, catching Olivia off guard. She looks at him curiously.

"Why does that matter?"

"Because whenever I think about my family, it makes me want to go out and kill, because thinking about them hurts," Huck says. "That's when my guy comes out, because I don't want to hurt. I think your guy is out right now because you don't want to hurt either. I think you started thinking about how to get Mellie in the Oval within 5 minutes of Vargas' assassination because the first four minutes you were thinking about something that really hurt."

"You mean when Fitz was shot?" Olivia asks, realization hitting her.

"Yeah."

"I honestly don't remember. I remember sitting in the bathroom with Mellie when people started shouting, and then I don't remember what I was thinking about for the few minutes after that. I don't understand why Abby's so mad at me, but she's right. I'm not the same person I used to be. I don't know if I would give stop to give you change in the Metro today. I don't know if I would risk outing Defiance to save Quinn. I don't know if I would be able to sabotage my own client by taking away his wife mid-campaign after he broke her..." Olivia pauses, then jerks her head up like a lightbulb went off.

"Do we have pictures of Abby from when I took her to the hospital, after her husband beat her half to death?"

"Yeah, why? You want me to leak them?"

"No, I just want to see them."

Huck digs into the files and finds the pictures and brings them to Olivia.

"That's what I thought. She had a broken jaw, not a broken nose."

"Why does that matter?"

"Because on the phone, she said that her husband broke her nose."

"Maybe she forgot."

"I don't think she would forget something like that!" Olivia says. "She has a pin in her jaw and two of her teeth are fake."

"Are you sure she said nose when you talked to her tonight?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

"You think she's trying to send you a coded message?" Huck asks.

"It's the only thing that makes sense," she insists. "Somebody got to her. Someone's either threatening her or using her. They may have gotten to Fitz too. But I don't know who, or how."

"What else did she say? Maybe that will help."

"She said that if I don't stop investigating she'll tell the world that I sle...wait, how would she know that?"

"Know what?"

"Can you see if you can find any calls or communications between Abby and Jake, or my father?" she asks, ignoring the question.

"Abby uses a secure White House phone now, and Jake's the head of the NSA. I don't think I can get in."

"Those calls are recorded and archived. They wouldn't use those. Check Jake's campaign phone and Abby's personal cell. And see if they had any meetings, on or off the book. Get Quinn and Charlie back here and tell them I'm sorry. In the meantime, can you bring me a laptop so I can go through more campaign videos while you hack?"

"Yeah. But what about stopping the article? Isn't that more urgent?"

"I think they're related," Olivia says. "I think the article is designed to be a distraction. Get me back in the media spotlight so it's harder for us to keep investigating the assassination. I think someone doesn't want us to find something and we need to figure out what it is."

-  
 **NSA DIRECTOR'S OFFICE (November 16, 2016 at 1:30 AM)**  
Jake is sitting at his desk when an aide comes in.

"You wanted me to let you know if there were any attempts to infiltrate any media outlets, sir, in case our enemies try to use the power vacuum to spread misinformation."

"Yes. Did something happen?"

"It looks like someone infiltrated the New Yorker's servers about half an hour ago. Here's the activity log, if you want to see it."

Jake takes the file and scans it, then picks up his phone and calls Abby. "Good job. They took the bait," he tells her.

Abby hangs up looking worried and conflicted, like she is in over her head.

-  
I hope you liked this chapter and are enjoying the mystery. I apologize for the lack of Olitz scenes but I want this to read like a real episode of Scandal. The next chapter will show some events that happened the same day as this chapter from different characters' perspectives and fill in some of the gaps that this one left, including whether and why Fitz really threw Olivia under the bus during the interview.


	5. Chapter 5

_Thank you so much for all of the reviews on the last few chapters. This chapter is a little different - it goes back and shows the events covered by the last few chapters from Abby's perspective, in order to reveal a little bit more of the puzzle. The first scene takes place a couple hours after Mellie tells Fitz the truth about Rowan (chapters 2-3) and about 11 hours_ _ **before**_ _Olivia talks to Fitz on the phone and then finds out about the New Yorker interview (chapters 3-4). In order to make things a little less confusing, I gave dates and times for each scene in this chapter and the previous chapters._

 **12 HOURS EARLIER (November 15, 2016 at 1 PM)**  
Abby is walking through the halls of the West Wing when Marcus approaches her.

"Abby, we've got a problem. The interview with the New Yorker - you should hear this."

Abby goes into Marcus' office and listens to an excerpt of the interview. [The parts that were in the excerpt Abby brought to OPA are underlined, so you can see how Fitz's real answer was distorted].

 _"Given how everything turned out, do you regret the affair?" the journalist asks._

 _"I guess I knew this was coming," Fitz says with a chuckle. "_ _I regret the pain it caused my family and the fact that the resulting media circus distracted us from governing._ _"_

 _"That doesn't answer the question," the journalist prods. "Do you regret the affair itself? Do you regret getting involved with Olivia Pope?"_

 _Fitz pauses for a minute, deciding how to answer. "That's what my staff wants me to say," he says. "It's probably what the American people want me to say - that_ _I regret getting involved with Olivia Pope_ _, that_ _she's not the person I thought she was_ _and that it wasn't worth the price, given the way things turned out. And I do regret the way things turned out, and I regret betraying the people's trust and putting my family and the country through the whole ordeal. But I don't...I can't regret falling in love with her. The truth is, I could never regret what we had together no matter how much I regret the consequences."_

Abby throws her head back in frustration. "Damn it! This is exactly what we told him not to do," she says to Marcus.

She marches toward the Oval, prepared to lecture Fitz, but she stops when she sees the door is closed and hears that he is talking to Angela.

[ _AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am NOT a fan of Angela (or anyone who's not Olivia) with Fitz at all. This scene is just to advance the plot._ ]

"I don't have an update on the investigation since we last talked about it," Angela tells the president.

"That's not why I called you here," he says. "I just wanted to give you the heads up that I did an interview with the New Yorker today, and when they asked me about Olivia, I got a little carried away with my answer. They asked me if I regretted getting involved with her, and..."

"Fitz, it's alright," she says with a shrug. "I know you're not over her, not completely. I knew that going in."

Fitz is surprised by how easily she takes it. "I just...I don't want you to think that you're just a rebound or anything like that. I am trying to move on," Fitz tries to assure her.

"I know. I believe you," she says.

Abby walks away after that, slightly puzzled at Angela's easy going attitude. She knocks her head against the wall, frustrated with the whole situation.

-  
 **ONE HOUR LATER (November 15, 2016 at 2 pm)**  
Abby walks into Jake's office outside the situation room.

"I need a favor," she says.

"Another favor? That's two in three days."

"I know. But I need your help. David's announcement about widening the investigation has set off a panic. People are uncertain about who their next president is going to be, and we risk a dangerous power vacuum if this isn't resolved by December 18. Fitz isn't thinking clearly because he's still hung up on Olivia despite protestations to the contrary, and he's letting her cloud his judgment."

"I'm not so sure about that. From what I hear he seems to be moving on finally."

"Trust me, when you see his New Yorker interview you'll retract that statement. He was supposed to focus on his policy accomplishments in an effort to make them his legacy instead of the sex scandals, and instead the interview reads like a love letter to his ex-mistress."

"I see. So what do you need me to do?"

"Find a way to shut her witchhunt against Cyrus down."

-  
 **EIGHT HOURS LATER (November 15, 2016 at 10 pm)**  
Abby walks into the White House kitchen, where she is supposed to meet Jake, and is surprised to see him talking with Angela Webster and Liz North in a hushed tone. Abby can't make out what Jake is saying to them at first, but is pretty sure she hears the words "too late". When she approaches, they suddenly become silent for a second, before Jake turns to her and says "Abby, glad you could join us. We think we have a face-saving way to end the investigation. But we need your help." He turns to Liz and Angela. "You guys can go. I'll fill Abby in on the plan." Abby notices Angela sizing her up as she and Liz walk away, as if she is trying to figure out how much Abby overheard.

 **TEN MINUTES LATER**  
"I don't understand. Why can't I just give them a flashdrive with the article that contains some kind of virus to delete or corrupt the video file?" Abby asks Jake.

"Because it won't work. Huck is too smart not to check anything you give him on a flash drive, and even if he weren't, it would take days to encrypt a file that big. The only way Huck and Quinn will risk compromising their computers is if we bait them into hacking into the New Yorker and plant the worm on their server."

"Fine. So why don't we do that, but leave the real audio on the server so she'll know what he really said?"

"Because that won't be enough. They probably made backup copies of the video, and even if they didn't, she'll find some other way to continue digging unless we demoralize her and take away her incentive to keep going. This is the only way we're going get Liv to back down, which you know is necessary or you wouldn't have come to me."

"I asked for your help stopping her, not destroying her," Abby protests.

"Look, I don't like this any more than you do. I tried to save her. I tried to give her an out, get her off this destructive path she's been on. But she made her choice. You can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved," he says.

-  
 _ **FLASHBACK - TEN YEARS EARLIER**_

 _Abby is standing in her kitchen with a black eye, struggling not to cry as she calls Olivia, her husband keeping a watchful eye behind her._

 _"Liv, hi, it's Abby. No, I'm fine. We just have a little situation with the campaign I need your help with."_

 _"Sure, what can I do?" Olivia asks._

 _"I was baking brownies for the fundraiser tonight, and being the klutz that I am, I smacked myself in the eye with the mixer. Now I have a big black eye and people are coming in three hours, and I don't want them to see me like this...I'm afraid someone will get the wrong idea and give it to the DCCC as ammunition."_

 _Olivia looks skeptical, but holds her tongue when she hears Chip talking in the background about the oven beeping. "Alright, I'll be there in about an hour. Get ice on your eye, now!" she commands._

 **PRESENT DAY - TWO HOURS LATER (November 16, 2016 at 12 am)**  
Abby's car pulls up to OPA. She hesitates before going in, going over everything in her head. She takes out the transcript she is about to give OPA, then whips out her phone and calls Marcus.

"Hey, do you have the New Yorker interview handy?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Is there anywhere in the interview where he says something about someone being a good person or not - Olivia or anyone else?"

"Hold on...no, I just did a keyword search and the words 'good person' didn't return any hits. Why?"

"Don't worry about it," she says casually. "Thanks."

Abby walks into OPA, where she finds Huck in his office.

"I thought about what you said yesterday, and you're right. I haven't been there for Liv like I should. So in the interest of having her back, I brought you a transcript of the president's interview with the New Yorker. I shouldn't be doing this, since I'm supposed to be protecting the president, but I'm bringing this to you so you can be prepared to do damage control when they call you for comment."

"Uh, thanks," Huck says, seeming a little surprised by the encounter. Abby quickly walks away before he can say anything else.

 **ONE HOUR LATER (November 16, 2016 at 1 AM)**  
Jake's last words echo in Abby's head as she drives through the streets of DC: "You can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved."

-  
 _ **TEN YEARS EARLIER**_

 _Olivia enters Abby and Chip's house and surveys the situation. She is pretty sure Abby is lying about how she got the black eye but keeps it professional and plays along._

 _"I brought four different kinds of concealer," she tells them. "I can make the bruise a lot less noticeable and do your hair in a way that covers it, but I recommend that you work it into your speech in case anyone notices. Tell everyone that your wife is a little clumsy but very devoted to you and campaign, so much that after she hit herself in the eye with the mixer her first concern was finishing the brownies so they'd be ready for the event. Tell some other cute story about a time she was clumsy, and leave the mixer out on the counter to make it look more believable," she says, glaring at Chip. "Abby, come with me so we can get you ready," Olivia orders._

 _Olivia takes Abby to her dressing area, where she goes to work trying to cover up the black eye with makeup._

 _"Is this also from the mixer?" she asks Abby pointedly as she notices another bruise on her shoulder._

 _Abby sighs. "Liv, don't."_

 _"Don't what?"_

 _"Don't lecture me. Don't judge me. And whatever you do, please don't interfere. Don't try to save me."_

 _"I'm not trying to save you. I can't save someone who doesn't want to be saved," Olivia says pointedly. "But when it happens again, and I say when, not if, when it happens again, when you decide you've finally had enough, call me. If Chip's around and you can't speak freely, bring up something that happened in law school, except get some of the details wrong. I'll know that that's your signal," she instructs. "Until then, I'm going to keep doing what you're paying my firm to do, which is run his campaign and keep any dirty secrets he might have concealed," she says as she applies another layer of concealer to Abby's eye._

-  
Abby is jolted from her memory when her phone rings.

"Nice work. You finally succeeded at getting him to throw me under the bus. How'd you do it?" Olivia demands on the other end, beginning the epic phone fight they had at the beginning of the last installment.  
-

 _I hope you liked this chapter. Again, sorry for the lack of Olitz interaction, but I thought it would be interesting to have the plot unfold this way. Now we know that Jake or someone who works for him edited Fitz's interview, but was it really just to demoralize Olivia, or is there something more sinister at work? How will Fitz react when he finds out what Jake and Abby did? Will their plan work? How will Olivia react when she finds out what he actually said? Why is Fitz's new girlfriend so cavalier about the fact that he basically told the whole world he still loves Olivia? And of course the million dollar question - who really killed Frankie Vargas? Stay tuned for answers to these questions and more._


End file.
